


Pink Lemonade

by BuckinghamAlice



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: American Girl Place, Batfamily Feels, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen, I don't know, M/M, this happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2018-02-03 11:29:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1743110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuckinghamAlice/pseuds/BuckinghamAlice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce and Clark take Stephanie and Cassandra to American Girl Place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pink Lemonade

“Do me a favor,” Bruce grumbled. “If I ever listen to Barbara Gordon again, shoot me.”

Clark grinned at Bruce and then laughed. “Oh, come on. Babs was right. The girls are having an amazing time. I mean, _look_ at them.”

Bruce turned his head and watched Stephanie and Cassandra, who were standing in front of a glass display of American Girl dolls, surrounded by children half their age, but just as excited as anyone. When Babs had suggested this outing, Bruce had thought it would be a simple enough quick trip, but here he was, surrounded by hoards of happy, giggling little girls and he didn’t know what to do with himself.

There were dolls _everywhere_. They had more clothes than Clark did, fancy furniture, more accessories than the women’s department of Macy’s… you could even buy them a Volkswagen Beetle. Bruce had no idea what he was supposed to do here. He’d been in toy stores before, but this was a whole other thing. Between the children milling about happily, the mothers grabbing boxes upon boxes off the shelves, and the people in line outside the doll hair salon, he almost wondered if he wasn’t in some other dimension or alternate reality… because it was hard to believe this was real.

And Cass, who had only come on this trip because she thought it would be fun to see happy kids, was holding a box with a doll inside who looked like her, right down to her shoulder length dark hair. And Steph, apparently, was trying to decide between two dolls, both blondes but one with bangs and one without.

“This is madness,” Bruce grumbled to Clark.

Clark shrugged. “This is father-daughter bonding.”

“Yet I see you didn’t invite Kara,” Bruce replied drily as a little girl holding a doll sized horse bumped into him and startled herself.

“Kara and I had tea at the one in Metropolis,” Clark replied. “She has a Samantha doll.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “The dolls have names, and you know their names?”

Again, Clark shrugged. “Some of them have names and books that take place in historical settings. And I know this because it was important to Kara.”

Bruce nodded once and watched as Steph and Cass debated which of the two blonde dolls was cuter and then laughed once, under his breath, when Steph chose instead one with freckles and short blonde curls.

When the girls left the doll display, Clark asked, “So you’ve both decided?”

Cass smiled softly. “I didn’t know they had Asian dolls.” Then, peering inside the box’s plastic window to see the doll’s face again, she added, “We’re naming them Marina and Amanda.”

“Y’know, I only got one because she talked me into it,” Steph added, nodding her head in Cass’s direction. Then, after a split second pause, she asked, “But we should get outfits, too.”

Bruce nodded. “You may get whatever you like… as long as you get it quickly.” Before anyone else could say anything more, the boxed dolls were shoved into Bruce and Clark’s arms, and the girls had taken off.

“They’re going to remember this day for a long time,” Clark said, bumping Bruce slightly with his elbow.

Bruce snorted. “So will I.”

The girls ran around the store for a few more minutes and came back with matching purple pajamas and souvenir t-shirts and jeans for their dolls as well as little pairs of sunglasses and purses. Cass also had a blue party dress and Steph had a purple plaid one.

“So I take it you’re finished,” Bruce commented.

“We are,” Cass replied with a nod.

Bruce sighed in relief. “Thank Christ. Now let’s go to the register and get out of here.”

“But wait,” Clark protested.

Bruce crossed his arms impatiently. “Don’t tell me _you_ want a doll, too.”

“Don’t be silly,” Clark replied, rolling his eyes. “If I wanted a doll, I’d have picked her already. I just think that if the girls don’t do the tea that they’ll wish they had.”

“ _Tea_?” Bruce demanded incredulously.

“Yeah, the tea,” Clark answered. Looking to the girls, he said, “They have little tea cakes and tea sandwiches and chocolate mousse in a flower pot for dessert. And you can sit your dolls in little chairs at the table and they can eat with us!”

Steph gasped. “Ooh!”

“Oh, Bruce!” Cass exclaimed. She and Stephanie and Clark were all looking expectantly at him, and he felt like instead of coming here with his adult boyfriend and two young ladies he had come with three children.

But still, he didn’t see any reason to disappoint them. After all he had come this far… he may as well share a tea table with two dolls.

“Fine,” he relented with a heavy sigh. “First the register and then the tea room.”

Some minutes later, two dolls and several outfits were piled in one large shopping bag that Bruce handed to Clark. Steph grabbed Cass’s hand and Cass used her free hand to grab Bruce. With a sigh, Bruce turned to Clark and took his hand, and the four of them made their way to the pink tea room with the little pink tables where they would drink pink lemonade in the company of two dolls that were about to be loved for years to come.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by my recent trip to American Girl Place, as well as every previous trip I've made there because there are always fathers and brothers who look either confused or just plain miserable or both.


End file.
